Week 1

Did You Know? 3.0

The video "Did You Know? 3.0" was a real eye opener for me. I don't tend to think on that large of a scale, I tend to think on a smaller scale of mostly what goes on around me and my family and friends. But then I watched this video and I realized that this all does effect me, because one day instead of teaching English to children in schools we may be teaching Chinese. Most of these statistics that were given absolutely floored me! Who would have thought that eventually computers will be smarter than us humans (and we are the ones supposed to be designing and engineering them)! Maybe I should consult google to see who did think of this. I know that I would have never sat down and thought how far technology has come in the past 10, 20, 50 years I would have continued to go day to day taking advantage of it.
I read the comments that were posted for this video and almost every comment was about how he or she could not believe how much technology has come along. We have all taken advantage of everything that is available (i.e. cell phones, computers, the Internet). For example, we would not be able to have this class if it was not for the technology breakthroughs. I know that I am very thankful for it and I am going to use it all to the best of my abilities. It all really goes to show how much we all thrive on the instant gratification theory. People, including myself, always want the next bigger, better, faster thing sometimes that being before it ever even available, just to say that we have it and than something new comes along and we forget about the last biggest, better, fastest thing that is sitting in the bottom of the closet. So, the question "Did You Know?", my answer is no, I did not know.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
The video "Mr. Winkle Wakes" really goes to show that sometimes the "old way" of teaching is the best way to teach with maybe some minor improvements. I believe that students learn more from human interaction than many people realize. If a computer was to take over another job such as teaching who or what is going to inspire children to grow up to be something great like the President of the United States? Computers would only bring about more laziness from our kids and their future. Would we let a computer run the government? I don't think we would, but I think that we could use the computer's help.
I have a question... Would you fix a faucet that the water flowed out of properly? My answer would be, no. I may however, install a water filter to improve the water's taste. So, if a teacher standing in a classroom full of children teaching has worked for many years why change it? I say that we don't change the way of teaching let's improve the way of teaching. Adding computers to classrooms should only improve the way children learn, not take over and do all the teaching. I think this video really portrays that way of teaching.

Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity
WOW! Mr. Robinson spoke the truth and I was truly moved by his speech. Our school systems put creativity at the bottom of the list. Simply, because teachers are preparing them for a job that the child will have when he or she is 30 years old. I love the saying in the video "all children are born artist, it is their job to not to grow out of it." Teachers should treat creativity equal to math and literature in the classroom. Why do we teach children to be a certain way, if we say at the same time that they each have their own different personalities but we strive to make them conform to a mold. Then if a child does not conform we chalk it up to him or her having ADHD. It should not only, be the child's job not to grow out of creativity, but also it should be the teacher's job to encourage that creativity.
I completely agree with Mr. Robinson, school does kill creativity. Math and science are very important for a student to learn so is how to be creative. I know that once I begin my teaching career I will strive to inspire the creative child or children that I teach and not take that creativity away from him or her. I will strive because growing up I was that child in class that wanted to draw rather than do my classwork. Then when I was in high school I had a history teacher let me know that it was o.k. for me to be creative and she showed me a how to be creative and apply that to my schoolwork. It is because of her, that I want to become a teacher. I want to help a child embrace his or her creativity and let them know that it is o.k. to be that way because that is how God wanted them to be.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Vicki Davis in the beginning says that when students have only pen and paper then only certain students will succeed. While agree with that theory, in a class where only computers are used then again, only certain types of students are going to succeed. A good percentage of students will fall in the middle where they will do average in both ways of learning. It is very hard for all students to succeed in every different course of study. This is why I believe, as I have stated before, that teachers should be fully involved in teaching and only using a computer to improve or enhance what that teacher is trying to teach. While Ms. Davis seems to me like she is pushing her duties, as far as teaching goes, onto the computers and she is simply there to supervise. What I will commend Ms. Davis for is showing her students how to collaborate with other students from around the world.
This video led me to believe that instead of learning the students are playing. Some may argue that this is a way for a student with a creative mind to be able to exercise his or her creativity. I agree that using a computer is a great way to pursue that creativity, but there is a fine line between creativity and play time in the classroom. A teacher should be able to show the student how to apply that to schoolwork, not how to play the Sims Life games. Using digital media to show students how to express their creativity in a way that would allow them to use their digital media creativeness in the student's core classes. This is how I believe "harnessing" a student's "digital smarts" should be used.